• Convention in Delhi Demands Repeal of AFSPA

• Those guilty of communal violence against the people must be tried and punished!

• Declaration of the organisations and personalities participating in the Convention on the Repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958, held on Saturday, September 4, 2004, at the JNU City Centre in New Delhi

• Government fails to quell movement in Manipur

• Hundred days of the Manmohan Singh regime:
  Attacks on livelihood and rights of people escalate along with deepening crisis of parliamentary democracy

• The government has changed, but peasants continue to suffer

• Takeover of Global Trust Bank by Oriental Bank:
  Government not willing to guarantee protection for the depositors

• Acts of individual and group 'terror' are a byproduct of the
  world system of imperialist domination

Convention in Delhi Demands Repeal of AFSPA

This was the culmination of the day long Convention organised by the Manipur Students Association, Delhi. Sarem Rojesh (MSAD) and Pravin (Lok Raj Sangathan) conducted the proceedings, with Justice Ajit Singh Bains, Dr. L. Pardesi Singh, Siddharth Varadrajan, and Th. Tarun Kumar on the presidium. Throughout the day, participants from political parties, youth organisations, student associations, professors, and youth from various slums and localities in Delhi discussed the issue of "what needs to be done to take the struggle against AFSPA forward?".

The Convention started with the screening of a documentary based on video footage of the struggle of the Manipuri people against the AFSPA and the repression the people have to face. Representative from the executive committee of MSAD presented the report and the keynote speech on the struggle against the AFSPA.

Speaker after speaker expressed their solidarity with the fighting people of Manipur and declared that the struggle to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act shall be carried forward till the Act is repealed. They condemned the Indian state's colonial policy towards Manipur and its refusal to heed the voice of the masses. More than 30 participants expressed their views on the topic which includes Justice Ajit Singh Bains, Dr. L. Pardesi Singh (Advisor, NECOHR), Siddharth Varadarjan, Prakash Rao (Communist Ghadar Party of India), Com. Goswami (Revolutionary Socialist Party), Bijju Nayak (Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha), Prof. Rizwan Kaisar (Jamia Milia Teachers Association), Prof. BK Roy Burman, Prof. Bhagat Oinam, Sucharita Basu (Lok Raj Sangathan), Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, Th. Tarun Kumar, Vijay Singh, Kumar Sanjay Singh, Peter D' Souza, Gurmeet (AIPRF), Sheomangal Siddhantakar, Dr. Bimol, Mr. Jeban (Former Minister, Manipur), Sudha Bharadwaj (Chattisgarh Mahila Mukti Morcha), Poonam (Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan), Kavita Krishnan (All India Students Association), Mona Das (JNU Students Union), Banerjeet, Jagdish, and Malem.

Siddharth Varadarajan pointed out that in the worldwide struggle against increasing fascism, the struggle of the people of Manipur against the fascist AFSPA was path-breaking. Freedom fighter and social reformer Prof. Roy Burman declared that he did not want to live in an India which could go to such lengths of savagery to suppress a heroic people. Com Goswami declared that the Revolutionary Socialist Party would fight to get AFSPA repealed in Parliament. The former Minister from Manipur, Jeban, declared that he was with the people of Manipur in the struggle against AFSPA and that he would work with political forces in Parliament as well as in Manipur to achieve this. Prakash Rao called on the communists in Parliament to stop besmirching the red flag and stop conciliating with the Indian bourgeoisie's line of justifying fascist repression and denial of rights under the slogan of "defending national unity and territorial integrity". Sucharita brought out incisively how the political system and political process as well as the structure of the Indian Union effectively marginalised people, as the struggle of the Manipuri people has dramatically shown. All the speakers affirmed that the struggle of the people of Manipur against AFSPA will be linked with the struggle of the working class and peasantry and all the oppressed and exploited people of India for the renewal of India on democratic lines. In a powerful presentation, Dr L.P. Singh exposed the double-dealing of the Indian government. Its claims that it was concerned with finding a democratic solution to the present crisis are being completely exposed by the continued daily repression unleashed against activists and ordinary people.

The Convention was marked by fraternal spirit amongst all the participants and solidarity of all the people of India with the brave people of Manipur. Kuldeep Nayyar and Prof Rajni Kothari, who could not attend the convention due to ill health, expressed solidarity with the people of Manipur and their support for the Convention. Prof Sanajaobo (Dean of Law, Guwahati University) sent a message to the Convention detailing the history and consequences of AFSPA in the North East.

The Convention concluded with a bold resolution unanimously demanding immediate and unconditional repeal of the Act, withdrawal of all the soldiers to their barracks, and an end to repression under NSA and the Disturbed Areas Act. The Convention questioned the policy of the Indian Government of defending "unity and integrity" with the gun. It challenged the government to decide whether it wants the people of Manipur or the land of Manipur.

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Those guilty of communal violence against the people must be tried and punished!

The proposal for this new law is a reflection of the growing public resentment against the crimes of communal genocide that various sections of the ruling class periodically organise to split the unity of the working and oppressed people and stamp out the flames of the popular resistance to their exploitative and oppressive rule. It is a reflection of the growing public demand that the guilty should be punished for their crimes against the people and not be allowed to go scot-free as is the case today.

The Indian state was supposed to have enacted such a law right after it became a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention in 1959. That it has refused to do so for over 45 years reveals that it has no intention to stop using communalism and communal genocide as part of state policy, it has no intention to punish the guilty for any of the communal massacres that have taken place.

On September 2, the Union Cabinet announced the setting up of a high level committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge UC Bannerjee, to probe the fire on the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, Gujarat, in which 58 persons were killed in February 2002. This follows railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's earlier announcement in July ordering a high level departmental enquiry into the incident. Prior to this, following the efforts of various citizens' groups to bring the guilty to book, the Gujarat government had ordered an enquiry into the Godhra incident. Hundreds of people were arrested under the draconian POTA, even though no charges have been framed against most of them till now. It has become clear that the Gujarat government is not serious about investigating who was behind the Godhra train massacre.

Earlier, on August 18, a three member bench of the Supreme Court directed the Gujarat government to constitute a high level police team headed by the DGP to re-examine more than 2000 cases of summary closure of riot cases in the aftermath of Godhra. Before that, on August 16, K Chakraborty, DGP at the time of the Gujarat genocide, admitted before the Nanavati Commission, "though I received complaints from many towns and villages across Gujarat that many officers had refused to entertain complaints from violence victims...I could not take action against them...I was too busy controlling law and order from February 27 to March 6". Meanwhile, in a 172 page affidavit to the Nanavati Commission, Additional DGP RB Sreekumar has documented in detail the direct role of police officials and politicians in the post-Godhra communal genocide.

Due to the concerted efforts of organisations such as the Citizens for Justice and Peace, in two of the cases of communal carnage, the Best Bakery case and the Bilkis Bano case, the Gujarat High Court and the state administration were found by the Supreme Court to be actually conniving in shielding the guilty, after which the cases were ordered to be tried outside Gujarat. It may be recalled that in the Best Bakery case, the principal witness Zahira Sheikh had deposed before the Supreme Court that she was pressured by the state administration to retract her identification of those directly responsible for this massacre. In the Bilkis Bano case, the dead bodies of the victims were buried with salt to cause speedy decomposition and thereby destroy evidence, with the full connivance of the state police. These trials have begun in Maharashtra. However due to the state support and protection enjoyed by the accused, they have been repeatedly failing to turn up in court, thus prolonging the process of justice and compounding the miseries of the victims.

The ongoing developments in the movement against communal violence reveal the determination of the people to see that the guilty are punished. Punishing the guilty is indeed the necessary condition for putting an end to this menace. There are barriers, both of a legal and a political nature, to actually punishing the guilty. Such barriers can and must be overcome, by agitating for a new law against genocide, and for reforms in the political process towards ending the monopoly of criminal parties.

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Declaration of the organisations and personalities participating in the Convention on the Repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958, held on Saturday, September 4, 2004, at the JNU City Centre in New Delhi

1. The entire people of the state of Manipur—women and men, youth and students, towns people as well as village people— have demonstrated in no uncertain terms their determination to ensure the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958.
2. The brutal killings of Pastor Zamkholet Khongsai and Th. Manorama by the Indian Armed Forces, which have been the trigger for the present round of mass resistance in Manipur, are no isolated instances of Army brutality. There have been innumerable acts of rights violations, as well as deliberate cold blooded atrocities perpetrated on the civilian population in the whole period since the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was introduced in some areas of Manipur in 1958. This has been the tragic story of the state since the AFSPA was promulgated in the whole state of Manipur in 1980 right until today. The people of Manipur have been turned into second class citizens in their own homeland. Using the AFSPA as cover, the army has carried out numerous massacres, the torching and raping and plundering of entire villages, and all other brutalities normally associated with a colonial marauding armed force.
3. The people of Manipur, as well as the people of Nagaland and other regions of the North East, feel alienated not only from the army, but also from the rest of India, as a result of the fascist repression unleashed against them.
4. The demonstration by militant women of the Meira Paibi in front of the headquarters of the 17 Assam Rifles in Kangla fort, daring the Indian Army to rape them, has shocked the conscience of all democratic-minded people of India cutting across ideological, political, religious and regional barriers.
5. The protests of young students who are returning their schoolbooks, of nurses, doctors and teachers, of the faculty of Manipur University led by the Vice Chancellor, of journalists, of MLAs and MPs, and of the masses of youth, have brought to the attention of the whole of India that there is a very serious problem in Manipur, and that our sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters in Manipur are asking us—where are you?
6. The cynicism with which the armed forces have attacked the peaceful protestors right in front of the media, reveals the brutalisation of our armed forces as a result of the permanent occupation of Manipur and other parts of the North East for decades.
7. The threat of the Union Home Minister to the Manipur Chief Minister and Government that either they suppress the popular movement or the Centre will suppress it, and the refusal of a government that has declared that it will repeal POTA to even discuss in Parliament the situation in Manipur and what the MPs feel about the AFSPA, is leading to further alienation of the people of Manipur.
8. The arrest of hundreds of protestors, including women and students and youth, the arrest of leaders of agitating mass organisations under the National Security Act, and the ban on various organisations that are leading the present agitation, must be condemned as an attack on the people's basic democratic rights.
9. The central and the state governments are putting restrictions on and banning print and electronic media which are truthfully reporting the happenings in Manipur, while presenting a distorted picture through its own media all across the country. This is an attack on freedom of speech and expression. By doing so, the central and state governments are depriving the people of the rest of India of the correct information on the Manipuri people's struggle, and promoting division between various peoples through a systematic disinformation campaign. This disinformation campaign, which is aimed at spreading enmity and suspicion amongst different peoples of India, should be immediately stopped.
10. The logic advanced by a retired Army General in a leading newspaper blaming politicians for the problem in Manipur, but justifying the AFSPA, only deals with one aspect of the problem. The crux of the problem is that the Army should never be used to deal with internal problems. The issue is not for how long or how short a period. Political and social problems must not be dealt with as "law and order" problems, as is the wont of our political class. The AFSPA as well as the Disturbed Areas Act, both of which are part of the colonial legacy of British rule over India, should be repealed.
11. The Central government as well as various political parties talk of "insurgency" threatening the "national unity and territorial integrity" of India. They justify the Disturbed Areas Act as well as the AFSPA as necessary to counter "insurgency". They justify the counter-"insurgency" measures adopted by the armed forces and the Indian Intelligence. Evidence documented by independent human rights groups confirm that these counter-"insurgency" measure include, as an integral part of their arsenal, the following — 1. Mass rape of women and girls to terrorise the population 2. Burning and looting of villages as well as collective fines and collective punishment. 3. Spreading of disaffection amongst the population by setting up counter-"insurgency" militant groups in various communities. Such groups are usually recruited from "surrendered" militants, coerced or bribed into being informers, as well as set up to organise inter-community violence to justify the continuation of army rule. It is known that the Indian Army received training in counter-"insurgency" from the US during the days of the Vietnam War.
12. Despite Army Rule and counter-"insurgency" measures, the threat to the "unity and territorial integrity of India" has if anything become a permanent problem which all governments in Delhi talk about ad naseum. This is proof that Army Rule and counter-"insurgency" measures themselves are central to the problem, and not part of any solution.
13. Army Rule and counter-"insurgency" measures are in fact directed at the broad masses of the people of Manipur and other states of the North East.
14. The UPA government has refused to address the political and social problems of Manipur and other states of the North East. It has refused to even organise a discussion in Parliament on the demands raised by the people of Manipur, in particular on the justification if any for the continuation of the AFSPA.
15. The Left parties who are supporting the UPA have been conciliating with the line of "defending national unity and territorial integrity", which is but a justification for fascism and violence against the people.
16. The policy of the UPA government and the former NDA government towards the Manipuri people is consistent with that of the British colonialists.

Having noted the above facts,

We declare

1. We are one with the people of Manipur and all the peoples of the North East in their struggle for democracy and the repeal of fascist laws like the AFSPA.
2. We demand and fight for the immediate and unconditional repeal of the AFSPA, the Disturbed Areas Act and other fascist laws like the National Security Act.
3. We demand and fight for the immediate withdrawal of the Armed Forces to their barracks.
4. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all those arrested in the present agitation in Manipur as well as the lifting of the ban on organisations that are fighting for the repeal of the AFSPA.
5. We reject the line of "defending national unity and territorial integrity" through the gun.
6. We uphold the unity and solidarity of all the Indian people, including the different nations, nationalities and tribal peoples whose homelands lie within the borders of present day India.
7. And towards this end, we will wage the struggle within and outside parliament, in the campuses, in the media and in the courts, throughout the length and breadth of India, to uphold the unity and solidarity of the Indian peoples and advance the struggle for democracy and people's rights against fascism.

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Government fails to quell movement in Manipur

On the eve of the Home Minister's visit, the Meira Paibis took out torchlight protests in many parts of Imphal and other towns. Earlier in the afternoon, hundreds of women protestors in Thoubal district came to surrender their Election Identity Cards to the Governor in Imphal. They came with a banner reading "Voting right is meaningless without Right to Life". The police arrested the protestors and prevented them from meeting the governor. Meanwhile, Imphal West District was paralysed following a strike call by the Manipur Forward Youth Front. National Highway 53 connecting Imphal with Silchar in Assam was blocked by protestors burning tyres and putting barricades at different places. Police resorted to firing to suppress the protestors.

In another form of protest, Students of Imphal Arts College put up paintings depicting army atrocities. School and college students in Manipur have begun an indefinite strike demanding repeal of the AFSPA.

According to news reports, Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Bhattacharya of the Revolutionary Socialist Party also joined the protests in Imphal and demanded the repeal of AFSPA and the Disturbed Areas Act. He declared that his party would raise the demand for repeal of AFSPA in Parliament.

Against this background, Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh ordered the arrest of leaders of the Apunba Lup under the NSA. In the meeting of North East Chief Ministers with the Home Minister in Shillong on September 4, Ibobi Singh declared that the agitation in Manipur for the repeal of the AFSPA was led by the "underground", and he called for Central military assistance to crush the agitation. On September 4, a top student leader of the Apunba Lup was arrested. In response, the Apunba Lup declared it would not hold discussions with the Home Minister until the leader was released. Finally, late on September 5, following the release of the leader, the delegation of Apunba Lup consented to having discussions with the Union Home Minister.

According to reports, the Home Minister failed to convince the protestors to withdraw the agitation, and the Apunba Lup expressed its determination to carry on the struggle till its one-point demand for repeal of the AFSPA was fulfilled. Meanwhile, in a classic case of passing the buck, the Home Minister declared that it was the State government that should withdraw the Disturbed Areas Act if it wanted!

The peaceful and many-faceted mass protest of the Manipuri women and youth, intelligentsia and the villagers, cutting across community lines, has thrown the Indian state and its North East policy into crisis. All over India, people are expressing support for the Manipuri people and questioning why the AFSPA should not be immediately repealed. In such a situation, the Central government is pursuing a typical diabolical policy. It is trying to divide the Manipuri people on communal lines, even though it has so far failed in its efforts. It is trying to make out in front of the rest of the Indian people how "reasonable" it is, and is blaming the problem on the Manipur Government and the "underground". And both overtly and covertly, it is twisting the arms of the Ibobi Singh Government to ensure that it carries out the repression of the protestors while the Centre tries to keep a "lily white" image. However, the struggle of the Manipuri people, as well as the growing mass support for this democratic struggle in the rest of India, is exposing the game plan of the Central government.

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Hundred days of the Manmohan Singh regime:
Attacks on livelihood and rights of people escalate along with deepening crisis of parliamentary democracy

The workers and peasants, women and youth, are fighting for various immediate measures in defence of security of life and livelihood and rights. They are demanding immediate measures to eliminate poverty in the cities, countryside and hills. They are demanding that the privatisation program should be halted and reversed. They are asking for measures to punish those guilty of organising communal genocide. They are fighting for dismantling the apparatus of state terrorism, including fascist laws like the AFSPA, POTA, ESMA and the attacks on the right to strike. They want to strengthen the unity of the peoples of South Asia and break the strategic alliance between the Indian ruling class and US imperialism. They want on an immediate basis, measures to end the marginalisation of people from politics and to usher in the renewal of democracy to bring people to the centre stage.

The UPA government has failed on all counts to address the concerns of the people in the first hundred days it has been in power.

War against poverty

The budget presented by Finance Minister Chidambaram clearly signals that his government has no intention of eliminating poverty on a war footing.

It is pursuing the old course of attacking the livelihood of the people in the name of “fiscal responsibility”. The budget allocates 80% of the gross revenues for paying interest and repaying loans, and 20% for military and arms spending. For all other essential expenditure, such as elementary education, infrastructure investment or employment programs, the Government will borrow afresh from the World Bank and other financial institutions, both Indian and international.

The World Bank has expressed great happiness with India’s performance, and rates the government of India as being among the top “reformers” for “enforcing contractual and debt obligations”. This "enforcing contractual and debt obligations" is actually the root cause of distress among the masses of Indian people. The crisis of livelihood of the peasantry remains extremely acute, as the banks and insurance companies demand compliance at any cost with the rules laid down. They are driving the peasants to desperation, in the name of “enforcing contractual and debt obligations”.

Dismantling the instruments of communal and fascist violence and punishing the guilty

The claims that the UPA government will repeal fascist laws and ensure speedy punishment for those guilty of communal genocide have been belied. The UPA government has not yet repealed POTA. The Central government is busy preparing legislation to strengthen the existing laws as well as preparing new laws as stringent as POTA.

For nearly two months, the entire people of Manipur have been carrying on an unprecedented movement demanding repeal of the fascist Armed Forces Special Powers Act. This has affected the conscience of the whole of India and of democratic opinion worldwide, but not that of the UPA government. The armed forces continue to occupy and terrorise the people of Manipur. The blatant violation of human rights in Manipur is being justified in the name of “national security” and defence of the “unity and territorial integrity of India”.

A new commission of enquiry has been constituted to probe the Godhra events of February 2002. This is not any different from the action taken by the BJP-led government in 2000, when it set up a commission to probe the anti-Sikh massacres of November 1984. Such commissions do not have credibility in the people’s eyes, because they are only used by the ruling and opposition parties to score points over each other. It is clear that both the BJP and the Congress Party have vested interests to see that the guilty are not punished. It is to be noted that when the Nanavati Commission reportedly indicted a Congress MP from Delhi for his role in the 1984 massacre of Sikhs, the Congress government has been quick to come to his defence, accusing the Commission of being a BJP set-up.

Crisis of parliamentary democracy

The Parliament continuously witnessed dog fights and walk outs. It passed a budget without discussion. It adjourned a week early without any discussion on the situation in Manipur, on the upcoming Indo-Pak talks, as well as on the situation in Nepal and Bangladesh. There was no discussion on removing POTA, or on what new Black Law is being planned as its replacement.

The existing system of Indian democracy is the dictatorship of a small minority, whose will is imposed on the whole of society. The most important decisions affecting the fate of India are made by a small clique of representatives of big monopoly capital. Debates in the Parliament are designed to hide this reality and create the impression that it is the people who decide through their elected representatives. When even such debates collapse, the truth becomes revealed even more starkly.

In the parliamentary system of democracy a façade is played out where periodically the bourgeoisie change places from ruling to opposition "peacefully" and "gracefully", set aside the bitterness of electioneering, and work hand in glove to uphold the system so that people remain fooled. This is unarguably in the best interests of the bourgeoisie as a whole. However, the crisis of bourgeoisie rule has become so deep that it has become difficult for it to carry out this "peaceful" transition. The first 100 days of a new government are usually considered to be a “honeymoon period” during which the “opposition” is supposed to keep quiet and support the illusion that some change will take place. The first 100 days of the UPA government, however, witnessed severe dog fights between the ruling and opposition parties. No amount of demagogy that they were fighting on issues and values could hide the fact that this fight was merely over the control of state power, with no principles whatsoever. It was only a fight between two parties that serve the same class and have the same program, and which differ only in how this program should be implemented, and with what slogans and promises to deceive the majority of people.

A section of the bourgeois press has been trying hard to establish the point that had the Parliament been allowed to function then decisions could have been taken and the implementation of the CMP would have gone ahead. But the truth is that this is exactly the way that a bourgeois parliament is supposed to function. It is supposed to be only a talk shop to fool the people that their voices are being heard through their representatives, while the actual decisions are taken elsewhere, in the boardrooms and corridors of big monopoly houses. The Left Front, led by the CPM, has refused to expose the true nature of representative democracy and is blaming the BJP for bringing "parliamentary democracy into disrepute". It has declared that it will do nothing to bring down the government, no matter what the provocation may be.

The BJP's boycott of parliament should not have prevented the parliamentary communists from forcing a discussion on any of the issues of concern to the people. In fact, since the boycott of Parliament effectively meant that the question of the government falling did not arise, the CPIM has no excuse for not putting forth its views on any of these issues in Parliament. On the budget, the key issue was how to raise resources for the war against poverty. CPM does not want to address the fact that UPA budget broadly follows on the pattern of the last NDA interim budget precisely because it is committed to (1) paying back the interest and principal on debts, and (2) increasing the defence outlay instead of reducing it. In other words, it does not want a decisive break from the stranglehold of finance capital and the military machine. In the absence of this, all that the CPM can do is to suggest marginal changes in the same way that the BJP and NDA have done. On the issue of repealing the AFSPA, the CPM leadership has publicly stated that it is against the repeal.

It is becoming clearer to the people that parliamentary democracy limits their participation to the act of voting at the most. They can neither select their candidates, nor recall unsuitable representatives, nor can they initiate legislation in the Parliament or state assemblies. They have no control on who forms the government, what this government does, and what role the elected representatives play in Parliament or the state assembly. In the case of of Manipur, even the elected assembly is not permitted to act on its conscience on the question of repeal of the AFSPA and the Disturbed Areas Act.

What the toiling and oppressed majority of Indian people need, on an immediate basis, is a government that will defy the dictates of finance capital. What is needed is a government that would immediately repeal all black laws. In order to establish and sustain such an anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and anti-war government, it is necessary to fight for changes in the political process and system of democracy, and in the principles governing the Indian Union. Changes are required that would restrict the domination of criminal parties, and expand the space for workers, peasants, women and youth to send their best fighters to the legislative bodies. It is necessary to usher in a system of democracy where the toiling majority of people are the rulers and decision-makers. It is necessary to reconstitute the Indian Union as a voluntary union of consenting nations, nationalities and peoples, each of whom enjoys the right to self-determination, including secession.

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The government has changed, but peasants continue to suffer

The central issue for the toiling peasantry is security of livelihood. The peasantry all over India has been demanding remunerative prices for their crops. They have been demanding that the state provide them with good quality and reasonably priced inputs (seeds, fertilisers, power, water, and technical and scientific expertise), and insure them from the disastrous effects of natural calamities as well as the capitalist market forces.

Let us see what the government is planning. The Economic Review of the government for 2003-04 has suggested that the Minimum Support Price should be “rationalized” because the cost-plus formula that it uses can no longer be supported by present “market conditions”. This call for "rationalisation" should be seen in the light of the incessant demand of the Indian big bourgeoisie and international trading companies that the existing MSP system should be dismantled. The MSP mechanism, to a certain degree, acts as a barrier against the trading companies' efforts to speculate and trade in agricultural commodities.

Far from being dismantled, or being “rationalised” in the interest of big monopoly traders and finance capitalists, the MSP needs to be thoroughly overhauled to serve the interest of the vast majority of peasants. Today, only a small portion of the producers and products are covered by the system. Even on paper, the MSP mechanism exists for just 24 agricultural commodities. AP, Punjab and Haryana account for over 65% of rice procurement. Punjab and Haryana alone account for 90% of wheat procurement. There is a unanimous demand from the peasantry that the MSP be extended to all agricultural commodities and implemented evenly across the country so that all producers are covered. Universalising the MSP will reverse the deleterious effects that the lopsided implementation has produced so far, in terms of over-emphasis on rice and wheat at the expense of other crops, and their cultivation even in areas unsuited to them.

The plan to dismantle the MSP mechanism and replace it with “improved access” to credit is actually one integral plan of the bourgeoisie. It is in the interest of finance capital that the state withdraw even its minimal price support to the peasantry and leave it to the mercies of the capitalist market forces.

It is no surprise that one of the important issues raised in the budget is the question of improving the peasant's access to credit. The Finance Minister announced, “it is my intention to double the flow of agricultural credit in three years.”

Why has increasing access to credit for the peasantry become an important issue for the bourgeoisie today? The immediate concern of the bourgeoisie has to be seen in the background of the efforts of the bourgeoisie to dismantle the Minimum Support Price system and extract even more from the toiling peasantry. Overall agricultural credit requirement has increased by huge quantities in recent years. During the Tenth Plan period (2002-07), credit flow into agriculture will be of the order of Rs 7,36,570 crores. With this kind of massive investment, it has become imperative for finance capital to do away with “credit melas” and “concessional loans” and put the entire agricultural credit sector on internationally dictated commercial lines. Contrary to what the bourgeoisie has always claimed, agricultural credit was never cheap for the peasant. Even with the falling interest rates, the peasant has to still pay interest rates much higher than other sectors such as housing loans. After massive opposition from peasants in the light of hundreds of suicide deaths, the government put a ceiling on the agricultural interest rate at 9%, which is still much higher than the interest rate prevailing in many sectors.

Furthermore, the Finance Minister has proposed that the link between the big public and private sector banks on the one hand with the regional rural banks (RRBs) and the cooperative banks on the other, should be tightened, and that the latter should be judged on the basis of its “credit worthiness”. A Task Force is to be appointed to oversee the “restructuring” of the RRBs. The rural credit network at present is massive, but not very well integrated with big financial institutions. There are more than 47,000 branches of State co-operative banks (SCBs), including regional rural banks, and over one lakh outlets of cooperatives in rural and semi-urban areas. There are an estimated 11 lakh credit-linked self-help groups, covering about 1.7 crore families. The big financial institutions want to bring the rural credit network under their control so that they can maximise their profits even further by fleecing the peasants.

The Kisan Credit Card Scheme has been one more device to tighten the noose of finance capital around the neck of the Indian peasantry. About 413 lakh credit cards have been issued and the credits sanctioned through them now amount to Rs 97,710 crores. The effect of all this will be to bring the Indian peasantry completely under the grip of big finance capital and make them indebted forever to them.

The UPA government is abrogating its responsibility to provide peasants with credit based on their needs and not motivated by profit. It is thus leaving the peasants to the mercy of big financial institutions and the local usurers. It is the duty of the state, through its banking system, to ensure credit to the peasantry, besides other agricultural inputs, on a no-profit no-loss basis, so that the peasant household can not only survive but also prosper. Closely linked to the state-managed credit system, is the need for a universal insurance system to cover the losses of the peasantry in times of natural disasters. A universal price support, credit and insurance system are the right of the Indian peasantry. These have to be ensured by a state that is really concerned about the livelihood and well-being of the peasants.

The coming to power of the UPA government has spelt no fundamental change for the peasantry, since the programs and policies being pursued continue to be in the interests of finance capital.

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Takeover of Global Trust Bank by Oriental Bank:
Government not willing to guarantee protection for the depositors

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Acts of individual and group 'terror' are a byproduct of the
world system of imperialist domination

Sir,

This is being written as reports are coming in about the events in Russia surrounding the hostage taking at a school. Details are scant on who the hostage takers were, and it is said that these are elements of independence fighters of Chechenya. What is certain, of course, is that there has been a great tragedy and loss of life of innocent civilians. The Russian President Mr. Putin claims that there were no orders to storm the school, but events 'spiralled' out of control. It may be recalled that there was a theatre-drama sometime ago in Moscow with equally tragic consequences, and at that time, there were no denials that the orders to storm the theatre came from the highest levels.

The CGPI has been saying for sometime that acts of individual and group 'terror' are a byproduct of the world system of imperialist domination, and the refusal by nation states to address political problems through political means. Standing out in sharp relief are problems of the Middle East, of the military domination of Chechnya by the Russian army, unsolved national questions in parts of India, the Tamil question in Sri Lanka to name a few. The most recent events in Russia are a timely reminder that if governments refuse to solve problems in a principled manner, these problems have a portent for great tragedy for the people's of the world. To merely describe every problem under the sun as those created by 'terrorists' is to ignore the deep-seated grievances of populations. All progressive forces must join together to force Governments to attempt to settle political problems through political means.

Sincerely,
A. Narayan,
Bangalore

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